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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: biofuel

biofuel stories: 66 news summaries

41 - 60 of 66 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 Next >>

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Boom Time on Heartland Farms

US farmers strike it rich satisfying ethanol, export demands

Feb 15, 08 2:55 AM CST
(Newser) - The US economy may be teetering on a precipice but agriculture is enjoying what one industry analyst is calling a "golden age" after decades of decline, with bountiful harvests of crops and profits. The boom is fueled by the soaring demand from ethanol producers and to fill grain orders... More »

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agriculture • ethanol • Credit Suisse • corn • biofuel • Nebraska • Cedar Rapids • wheat • rice • farmer • grains • Food and Agriculture Organization • boom • heartland • rural America • Albion • agricultural economy • Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago • Boone County Commissioners • VeraSun • cash crops

Biofuels Will Add to Heating Climate, Studies Say

Land likely to be used for production is already helping absorb carbon

Feb 8, 08 8:21 PM CST
(Newser) - Biofuels could hurt Earth more than help it, two new studies conclude. Over 30 years, argues one, corn-based ethanol would spout twice the greenhouse gas of regular gasoline; the other notes environmental damage likely to be wreaked by chopping rainforests and other areas for production, the Washington Post reports. The... More »

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climate change • energy • environment • global warming • ethanol • gas • rainforest • biofuel

Black News for Not-So-Green
Biofuels

Producing crops for fuel releases more greenhouse gas than it saves: studies

Feb 8, 08 3:54 AM CST
(Newser) - Producing crops for biofuel releases more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere than is saved by using the alternative energy, according to the findings of two surprising new studies. Converting US farmland from producing food to ethanol necessitates food production elsewhere, vastly increasing greenhouse gas emissions as forests and grasslands are... More »

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climate change • global warming • ethanol • corn • biofuel • farmland

Brits Debate Eco-Wisdom
of Biofuels

Oil substitute may destroy rainforests, increase food prices

Jan 20, 08 11:03 AM CST
(Newser) - Biofuels may actually exacerbate the environmental problems they were meant to allay, reports the Observer, and a UK Parliamentary committee has released a report examining the possible effects. Using fuel made from crops like tallow and rapeseed may actually worsen greenhouse gas emissions, kill rainforests, and drive up food prices... More »

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environment • oil • greenhouse gases • gas • United Kingdom • British Parliament • biofuel • alternative fuels

Bush Signs Huge Energy Bill

Law boosts emission standards for first time since '70s

Dec 19, 07 2:00 PM CST
(Newser) - President Bush today signed a sweeping energy bill that will improve automotive fuel-efficiency standards, boost biofuel production, and kill off the incandescent light bulb, the Washington Post reports. Bush said the law would reduce US dependence on foreign oil and even the likelihood of terrorist attacks. Both the White House... More »

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energy • ethanol • biofuel • energy dependence • energy bill

Synthetic DNA Comes to Life

As breakthrough nears, questions multiply like cells

Dec 17, 07 9:56 AM CST
(Newser) - Scientists are on the verge of creating new life forms from synthetic DNA and already sparking ethical questions, the Washington Post reports. Researchers can make entire chromosomes from sugars, phosphates, and nitrogen-based compounds, then insert the DNA into a host cell. The new codes can transform bacteria or yeast into... More »

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genetics • DNA • biofuel • bacteria

San Francisco Gases Up,
Goes Green

City switches its
entire diesel fleet to
soy-based biofuel

Dec 6, 07 4:26 PM CST
(Newser) - San Francisco may have the biggest green fleet in America now that all 1,500 diesel vehicles—including ambulances, fire engines, buses and street sweepers—run on B20, a combination of soy-based and diesel fuels. The transformation is part of the city's plan to  reduce toxic emissions to 20% below... More »

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San Francisco • biofuel • diesel • biodiesel • green energy • Gavin Newsom

World on Brink of Food Crisis

Soaring world food prices spark political unrest

Nov 4, 07 6:30 AM CST
(Newser) - Recent food riots and famine warnings in response to soaring world prices for food staples are only a taste of graver problems to come, the Guardian reports. Food price inflation is at record levels, and global food reserves are at their lowest in 25 years, according to a United Nations... More »

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biofuel • food shortage • Food and Agriculture Organization • food riots

Racing to Fly With Biofuel

Air New Zealand, Virgin Air plan green commercial flights

Sep 30, 07 5:45 PM CDT
(Newser) - Kiwis are planning to launch the first green commercial flight in about a year, the BBC reports. Air New Zealand promises to fly a 747 with 1 of 4 engines running on a kerosene-biofuel blend, but Virgin Atlantic may beat them to it with a bio-flight in early 2008. "... More »

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airline industry • biofuel • Virgin Atlantic • green energy • Air New Zealand

Ethanol Glut Sinking Farmers' Hopes

'Gold rush' fades as biofuel prices plummet

Sep 30, 07 4:46 AM CDT
(Newser) - A glut of ethanol has sent prices plumetting, staggering the hopes of farmers and businesses who once counted on a biofuel gold rush, reports the New York Times. Companies and farm cooperatives built so many ethanol distilleries that production has far outpaced demand, in part because distribution hasn't... More »

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Congress • Iowa • ethanol • gas • corn • biofuel • fossil fuel • farmer • E 85 • energy dependence

Iowa-Minded Candidates Learn to Love Ethanol

Doubts take back seat to politics

Aug 20, 07 11:18 AM CDT
(Newser) - To a presidential candidate who has an eye on Iowa—and who among them can afford not to?—ethanol is a political home run. The Hawkeye State hosts 28 refineries, and every one of the ’08 hopefuls has duly supported some form of ethanol subsidies. This despite the fact... More »

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climate change • Iowa • carbon dioxide • ethanol • presidential campaign • environmentalism • corn • biofuel • fossil fuel

Ethanol More Mean Than Green

How biofuel steals from the hungry and hurts the environment

Jul 31, 07 2:54 PM CDT
(Newser) - Far from the solution to America’s energy crisis, corn ethanol is “one if the great political boondoggles of our time,” Rolling Stone says in a scathing broadside. The “dangerous” and “delusional” hype over the corn biofuel raises the price of food for the needy... More »

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energy • environment • oil • hunger • global warming • ethanol • corn • biofuel • crops • farmer

High Food Prices Hurt World's Poor

Relief groups find resources, ability to help stretched thin

Jul 24, 07 5:36 PM CDT
(Newser) - For the world's poorest people, the quantity and quality of food are increasingly at risk. Wholesale prices of  basic foods are 21% higher now than in 2005, with grain surging more than 30%. What's more, the total volume of food delivered by US-funded groups has declined 52% in the last... More »

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China • food • India • livestock • biofuel • charity • poverty • fertilizer • poor • aid programs • food prices

Bush’s Biofuels Beat Castro’s Cautions

Slate’s William Saletan makes the poor man’s case for ethanol

Jul 9, 07 7:33 PM CDT
(Newser) - The feud between biofuel booster George Bush and naysayer Fidel Castro is reviewed by Slate’s William Saletan—who says in the end Bush's position is the more progressive one. In fact he calls the erstwhile compassionate conservative a “revolutionary.” Castro argues that biofuel will take food out... More »

MORE ABOUT:
ethanol • Fidel Castro • biofuel • George W. Bush

Scientists on
the Brink of
Artificial Life

Synthetic genomes close to creating
new bacteria

Jun 29, 07 7:30 AM CDT
(Newser) - The first artificial life could be created within months as researchers emboldened by "species transplant" experiments prepare to insert synthetic genomes into a host bacterium, the Daily Telegraph reports. Maryland scientists have been replacing one bacterium's DNA with another, transforming the host  into the invader, and now plan to... More »

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science • DNA • biofuel • biotechnology • bacteria

Scientists Sweeten on Fruit Fuel

To get to core of gas problem, pick apples over ethanol, say studies

Jun 21, 07 4:48 AM CDT
(Newser) - Simple sugars found in fruits like apples and oranges can be converted into a new type of bio-based car fuel that provides more energy than ethanol, the current hip gas alternative. US researchers say the dimethylfuran can store 40 percent more energy and is less volatile than its corn-based cousin,... More »

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energy • ethanol • gas • biofuel • dimethylfuran • fuel • gas prices

OPEC Members May Seek More Foreign Funding

Soaring world demand breaks down resistance to international deals

Jun 6, 07 10:23 AM CDT
(Newser) - OPEC's new secretary-general says cartel members may be forced to attract more foreign investment to meet the world's expanding oil needs, the Wall Street Journal reports, a reversal of some countries' traditional opposition to cooperation with major Western producers. Oil-rich nations, currently riding high, may find themselves at a disadvantage... More »

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oil • BP • OPEC • Libya • biofuel • Abdalla el Badri • foreign investment

Peasants Booted for Biofuel Bucks

Green crop brings black days for displaced Colombian farmers

Jun 5, 07 4:40 PM CDT
(Newser) - Paramilitary gangs are driving thousands of Colombian farmers from their land to make way for the nation's latest lucrative crop: palm oil to produce biofuel, the Guardian reports. The violent land grabs have helped create some 3 million displaced Colombians. "It's the dark side of biofuel," said a... More »

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farming • cocaine • Colombia • biofuel • palm oil • coca

Brazil Rejects Bush Climate  Proposal

US plan not a viable alternative to Kyoto accord, says Lula

Jun 4, 07 6:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - Brazil's president bluntly dismissed the climate-change plan offered by George Bush last week as "voluntarism" in a situation where "multinationalism" is needed. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose fast-developing country is critical to any international deal on emissions cuts, said the proposal for a new international framework was... More »

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climate change • environment • Brazil • G8 summit • biofuel • Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva • George W. Bush • carbon emissions

Biofuels Bump Pump Prices

Government's ethanol push helps slow refinery expansion, boosting costs

May 24, 07 11:51 AM CDT
(Newser) - Four-dollar gas? Blame biofuels, the oil industry says. Construction of new refinery capacity is on hold thanks to government regulations that will soon require oil companies to produce biofuels such as ethanol. Uncertain standards for biofuels, which may render new refineries useless, have led oil companies to rethink expansion plans—... More »

MORE ABOUT:
ethanol • gas • biofuel • fuel • gas prices

41 - 60 of 66 Stories | << Prev 1 2 3 4 Next >>


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